Oil still



Oct.. 28, 1930. D. 5.JAcosus 1,779,434

oIL stm.

Filed Jan. 19, 1925 ivat JM ATTORNEYJ Patented Oct. 28, 1930 UNITEDSTATES .PATENT OFFICE DAVID B. JACOBUS, 0F JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY,ASSIGNOR T0 THE BABCOCK 6c WILCOX COMPANY, 0F BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY, ACORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY OIL STILL Application led .Tanuary 19, 1925.Serial No. 3,216.

My present invention relates to oil stills and will be best understoodfrom the following description and the annexed drawing of anillustrative embodiment of my in'vention, in which 10 is a bank of tubesconnected to an upper drum 11 and a lower drum 12 and extending across afurnace chamber 13 at substantially 45 to the horizontal, the furnacechamber being provided with a hot gas inlet 14 and a wastegas exit 15,the hot gases being provided from fuel burned on the chain grate 16.

A bridge wall 17 is provided between the hot gas inlet 14 and the wa-stegas exit 15 and extending to a point close to the tubes 10, this bridgewall, together with the relation of the several parts, defining a pathfor the heating gases entering through the inlet 14. From this inlet thegases pass upwardly across the upper ends of the tubes 10 and thendownward across the rear end of such tubes to the gas exit l5. n

The still, in the illustrativev form, is provided with one or morelongitudinal drums 18, 19, the drum 19 being connected by tubes 20 withthe lowermost of these drums 18, the latter being connected through theconnections 21 and 22, respectively, with the upper drum 11 and thelower drum 12.

It will be understood that the specific form of the still may be Widelyvaried an'd that the arrangement which I have described is chosen merelyfor the purpose of illustration. The same is true of the fuel-burningmeans, it being obvious that any other form of fuelburning means, suchas an oil burner or a gas burner, may be used instead ofthe solidfuelburning devices, which I have illustrated.

In oil stills, it has been found that if too intense heat is applied tothe tubes through which the oil to be heated is flowing, dlfficultiesarise.

Heretofore it has been proposed to operate the fuel-burning means lessefficiently 1n order to keep down the temperature ofthe gases whichfirstJ contact with the oil-circulating tubes. This has involved in someinstances, the admission of excess air which, in reality, merely dilutesthe combustion gases, and consequently carries away an undue amount ofheat which such cold air abstracts from the burning gases.

In the arrangement illustrated in the drawing, I have overcome thesedifliculties by using some of the waste gases as a means for dilutingthe incoming hot/gases, so that, although the fuel is burned at itsgreatest efficiency and at its highest temperature, nevertheless thetemperature is sufliciently reduced before the gases contact with thetubes to prevent injury to the tubes, and, at the same time, the heatabstracted from the incoming hot gases is nevertheless utilized.

In the specific arrangement illustrated, I

accomplish this end by providing an opening or openings 23 in the bridgewall 17. The opening 23 provides a means by which some of the gases,after passing out of contact with the tubes 10, may be diverted from theexit 15 and returned to the front of the bridge wall 17, there to minglewith the incoming gases from the inlet 14 and to be recirculated overthe tubes 10. It will be obvious that various means may be employed toso divert these waste gases, but, in the form illustrated, I have shownan injector by which a jet of air or gases drawn from the waste gas fiuewill be blown through the opening 23 and thereby draw waste gases fromthe exit l5 and force them into the hot incoming gases.

Gaseous fuel may also be blown through the opening 23, in which case thewaste gases drawn through the opening 23 and returned to the furnaceserve to reduce the liame temperature of combustion of the gaseous fuelon mingling with the air admitted to the furnace below what it would bewithout the return of the waste gases to the furnace.

The air or gas for operating the injector is admitted to the pipe 24extending across the bridge wall and one or more nozzles 25 directs astream of this air or gas through the opening or openings 23 asdescribed.

I claim:

1. In an oil still and its setting, a bank of inclined heating tubesextending from the front to the rear of said setting, a bridge wallextending across the setting intermediate the front and rear walls ofsaid setting and extending upwardly to a oint close to an intermediateportion of said tubes, said setting forming a furnace chamber includinga hot gas inlet at the front of said bridge wall and a gas exit at therear thereof whereby the gases from said gas inlet fiow upwardly infront of the said bridge wall across the front portion of the inclinedtubes and then downwardly across the rear portion thereof to the gasexit, said bridge wall being provided with an opening furnishingcommunication between said gas exit and said gas inlet, and means forcausing a ortion of the Waste gases to pass from sai gas exit throughsaid opening into said gas inlet.

2. In an oil still and its setting, a bank of inclined heating tubesextending from the front to the rear of said setting, a bridge wallextending across the setting intermediate the front and rear walls ofsaid setting and extending upwardly to a point close to an intermediateportion of said tubes, said setting forming a furnace chamber includinga hot gas inlet at the front of said bridge wall and a gas exit at therear thereof, where by the Y ases from said gas inlet iiow upwardly inront of the said bridge Wall across the front portion of the inclinedtubes and then downwardly across the rear portion thereof to the gasexit, said bridge wall being provided with an opening furnishingcommunication between said gas exit and said gas inlet, and fuel meansfor causing a portion of the waste gases to pass from said gas exitthrough said openin into said s inlet.

DA S. JAC BUS.

